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Topic Review (Newest First)

11-06-2013 11:48 AM

xxuxx

Re: Help unfurling an in mast furling mainsail on a 2008 Hunter 31

Listen to Cruising Dad, he is so correct. Especially the part about furling in the main. I have found that positioning the boat on a starboard tack and then furling the sail with sheet and vang loose stops the sail from rubbing against the entry slot on the mast as in slowly furls inside the mast. Qute simply put, it just goes in easier. Easy in normally means easy out.

08-13-2013 10:22 AM

Cruisingdad

Re: Help unfurling an in mast furling mainsail on a 2008 Hunter 31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff_sf1

Hello Everyone,

I am new to sailing and recently had a terrible time on the water trying to unfurling an in mast furling mainsail on a 2008 Hunter 31 which jammed and I was not able to sail at all that day.

Could someone explain their technique for unfurling and furling the main? or let me know if I am doing something incorrect. The following is the procedure I thought was correct:

3) open the outhaul and put one wrap around the winch, next open the furling in and out.

4) keep tension on the furling out line and pull the out haul until the sail is out

5) close the furling in and out, close the outhaul and then open the mainsheet stopper and sail to a close haul in order to unfurl the jib.

Any help, tips or explanation of the procedure would be greatly appreciated.

I apologize that the format for thiswill be a bit off. It was an article I published a while back (sorry, no pics). Hopefully this will help.

Brian

In-Mast Furling Mainsails

<Removed C400 specific discussion>

The issue with in-mast jams is that the vast majority of the sailors using the system are not correctly using it. Most of us were never instructed on it or because we are seasoned sailors, use it as we would a traditional main. Therein is the problem and why in-mast often get a bad name. For the record, I have never, not in many thousands of miles, had one single jam. The following steps will help you keep from jamming your in-mast also.

First, look at the picture:
<Insert Pic 1>

Note the location of the clew. It does not go horizontally into the mast. It travels up at an angle into the mast. This is critical to understand. Why? Because as a traditional (slab) reefer, you would point into the wind, tighten down the mainsheets to keep the boom centered, some even tighten down on the boom vang to help, haul up the main halyard until you have reached the top, then fall off and begin adjusting the vang, sheet, outhaul and halyard to the appropriate point of sail and conditions. We effectively reverse these to drop the main, again keeping dead to wind or close to, and keeping the sheets and typically the vang taunt. If you do that on an in-mast, sooner or later you will jam.
On In-mast, you MUST allow room for the car to travel down the boom and for the clew/sail to enter and exit at its proper point. If you cinch down on the main sheet and vang, then begin to haul in the reefing line, you will see that you cause tension down the leech of the sail. This often results in crinkles forming as you reef. These crinkles are what cause jams. So, when reefing your in-mast, you must release the tension on the main sheet and vang. Take the tension off so the sail can roll into the slot as designed. Also, keep some tension on the outhaul as you reef it to prevent any unwanted crinkles and a smooth roll. Lastly, you will notice the mast is slotted more to one side than the other. Depending on where your sail rolls, one point of sail may be easier to reef than others. For us, ours is a starboard tack. This is because the sail rolls out away from the mast and does not rub against it while reefing. Donít forget to put some McLube on the boom track to reduce the friction on the car. I do this about once a month.
One final point: We almost never use the winch to reef our sail in normal conditionsÖ and NEVER use the electric winch. If you reef the sail by hand, you can feel any potential jams before they happen and can pull them back out. If you gorilla-arm that sail in with the winch or the electric winch, you can create a jam that will be very difficult (if not impossible) to get back out. If you find yourself in a situation where you have to winch in the main, at least go slowly and keep staring up the slot for crinkles going in.
I am a fan of in-mast mains for most sailors. It keeps the crew safe and in the cockpit instead of tidying up sails on deck. It also gets a lot more use then what traditional mains because it is so easy to use and reef. Keep in mind what I said above when operating the sail, and you too should get thousands of trouble free miles.

Brian Mistrot
S/V Sea Mist IV, C400 #289

08-13-2013 10:02 AM

cjb

Re: Help unfurling an in mast furling mainsail on a 2008 Hunter 31

Andrew B

There have been several times when in Free mode, with a partially reefed main and good tension on the reefing lines / outhaul - all rope clutches were fully closed, that the sail has unfurled in a gust. To prevent this, I always switch to ratchet before reefing. Unfortunately, I cannot decipher the proper technique from the Selden manual or their web site.

To furl the main, I agree with you - there needs to be some resistance. I, or another crew member applies resistance by placing one or two turns of the outhaul around the winch, and then plays out the outhaul by hand.

Finally, we don't work at the mast -- my winch handle is too long and it hits the rigid vang.

Thanks -- cb

08-12-2013 11:54 PM

tdw

Re: Help unfurling an in mast furling mainsail on a 2008 Hunter 31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff_sf1

tdw, controlling the outhaul seemed easy enough until it jammed, I had the outhaul cleat open,it should be open when either furling or unfurling, am I correct,? (wondering now after a review of the post)

Controlling outhaul as you unfurl is not an issue, it is controling the damn thing as you furl. You need to keep some tension on the outhaul as you furl, failure to do so will result in an uneven or loosely furled sail and that is a recipe for jamming when you next try and unfurl. By cleat I presume you mean jammer, if so yes it should be open when unfurling. With a smallish main you can control the outhaul tension as you furl by playing the jammer but this is somewhat difficult as you get up in size.

Quote:

Make sure that you change the lever at the mast from RATCHET to FREE to unfurl the sail.Then open the rope clutches on both of the reefing lines and the outhaul. Pull the outhaul and the sail will come out of the mast.
Close the clutches, go to the mast and put the lever in RATCHET, and fall off the wind.

CB .... why change back to ratchet ? My partner finds it easier to furl by using the mast winch so of course it needs to be on ratchet to do this but if furling and unfurling from the cockpit why would you ever select ratchet. This is not me claiming you are wrong, only that if you are right I'd like to know why because unless working at the mast I never put that winch into ratchet mode.

Cheers

Andrew B

08-12-2013 11:27 PM

cjb

Re: Help unfurling an in mast furling mainsail on a 2008 Hunter 31

Jeff sf1

Make sure that you change the lever at the mast from RATCHET to FREE to unfurl the sail.
Then open the rope clutches on both of the reefing lines and the outhaul. Pull the outhaul and the sail will come out of the mast.

Close the clutches, go to the mast and put the lever in RATCHET, and fall off the wind.

cb

08-12-2013 09:53 PM

Jeff_sf1

Re: Help unfurling an in mast furling mainsail on a 2008 Hunter 31

Thanks for the input Vasco, much appreciated.

tdw, controlling the outhaul seemed easy enough until it jammed, I had the outhaul cleat open,it should be open when either furling or unfurling, am I correct,? (wondering now after a review of the post)

08-12-2013 07:18 PM

tdw

Re: Help unfurling an in mast furling mainsail on a 2008 Hunter 31

Maybe this is not such a problem on a 30 odd footer but on our 42'er controlling the outhaul as you furl is the most difficult part of the operation.

08-12-2013 05:15 PM

Jeff_sf1

Re: Help unfurling an in mast furling mainsail on a 2008 Hunter 31

Got it, thanks for the help

08-12-2013 04:05 PM

Vasco

Re: Help unfurling an in mast furling mainsail on a 2008 Hunter 31

Yes to remove the sail or increase or decrease halyard tension.

08-12-2013 02:21 PM

Jeff_sf1

Re: Help unfurling an in mast furling mainsail on a 2008 Hunter 31

got it! I was trying to clarify when I would ever free the main halyard, to remove the sail? I mention the jib halyard as only to clarify it purpose. Thanks for taking the time with me

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